GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Austin Peay State University's volleyball team settled for a split of two five-game matches, Saturday, in the UNC-Greensboro/High Point University Triad Challenge. The Lady Govs dropped their first match, 3-2 (30-25, 26-30, 30-25, 32-34, 13-15), against co-host UNC-Greensboro. APSU finished the tournament on a high-note with a 3-2 (31-29, 19-30, 30-25, 30-32, 15-11) victory against Radford.
“I'm really proud of our team and how we played this weekend,” said Lady Govs head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “We came well prepared and with a good game plan and the team went out and executed it. We still have some work to do offensively but our defense was great and our serving was strong all weekend.
In the day's first match, Austin Peay (3-1) led 2-1 entering the fourth game, which proved to be an exciting affair with the scored tied 10 times and the team's trading the lead four times. Austin Peay had four opportunities to end the match, the first at 29-26 and then other chances at 30-29, 31-30 and finally at 32-31, but could not find the point it needed.
Instead, UNC-Greensboro's (3-0) Branagan Fuller came through to extend the match in each of the final three APSU chances and then helped take care of matters with a service ace for the game-clinching point. The Spartans would take that momentum into the fifth game and sealed the match.
Senior Dodi Szymska led Austin Peay with 24 kills against UNC-Greensboro, finishing with a .242 attack percentage. Freshman Sarah Alisaleh continued her fine weekend of serving with another four service aces to go along with a team-best 56 assists, 17 digs and four kills.
Fuller led UNCG with 28 kills and a .333 attack percentage; she finished with 32.5 points after tacking on two service aces and four blocks.
The Lady Govs hit the floor again less than an hour later for its final match of the weekend against the Highlanders. Leading the match 2-1 and game four 17-15, Austin Peay saw Radford rally for seven consecutive points to take a 22-17 lead. The Lady Govs responded moments later with a 7-0 run ? with Szymska leading the charge with four kills in the run ? to take a 28-26 lead. Unfortunately, APSU could not keep the momentum going and saw RU close the match with 6-2 run.
The decisive fifth game was close early on with neither team able to get more than a two-point lead. But with Austin Peay leading 12-11 it closed out the match with back-to-back kills from freshman Jessica Mollman followed by a Radford attack error.
Szymska finished the match against Radford with 21 kills ? her third consecutive 20-kill outing ? and finished the tournament with 74 kills (4.35 kills per game). Mollman finished the match with a season-best 19 kills. Alisaleh added another four service aces and added seven kills and 59 assists.
“Dodi was strong as usual and very dependable and put her best effort out on the court for us this weekend. Jessica (Mollman) stepped up big in the second match ? she had a look in her eyes and wanted the ball. The team was very tired late into the second match today and they dug deep and found a way to win.”
Radford (1-3) had four players reach double-digit kill territory, Lauren Clary leading the offensive effort with 17 kills. The Highlanders won the battle at the net with a 14-7 blocks advantage as Heidi Haubrich led the effort with nine blocks.
Austin Peay returns to action with a 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, contest at Belmont.
- AP -
